The sun has not risen when hundreds of people gather before the barbed-wire fence. Some have been here for days. Entire families packed into small cars and drove here from all over the country. Many set up tents; those without tents slept slumped over in their cars or on blankets on the ground.

Now they hold pieces of paper with printed numbers, praying that theirs is low enough to ensure entry.

Wind and solar power backed by hydropower and underground thermal storage can supply 100 percent of Americans’ demand for energy by 2055 at a low cost, if you believe a 2015 study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Hydrogen would supply most of our energy needs for manufacturing and transportation.[…]